


The Waiting Game

by Just_Another_Day



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Beating, Canon Compliant, Drama, Gen, Interrogation, Scheming, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 20:31:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18858556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Another_Day/pseuds/Just_Another_Day
Summary: "Perhaps you enjoy pain. Why else would you hold your tongue for so long?"





	The Waiting Game

**Author's Note:**

> So this is set very early in Book 1, and is more or less like a canon compliant missing scene. But not quite, since it doesn't entirely fit into canon events. It more fully addresses something that I think was skimmed over in canon, so it diverges just _slightly_.

He could barely stand upright. Not from the exhaustion or the pain, but because the chains were so short that he couldn't stretch himself out to anything close to his full height. But although he could have eased some of the strain by just sinking to his knees, Damen would rather hunch uncomfortably in defiance than let it appear like he was choosing to submit.

That form of rebellion might have earned him just as many of his bruises as his refusal to divulge the information they wanted.

"Why were you sent here?"

It was the same thing yet again. Damen had grown tired of hearing it ages ago.

Damen's breath was laboured by now, but otherwise he made no sound.

The burliest of the guards delivered another punch after a few seconds of silence passed. Damen's head jerked to the side from the force of it. The chains rattled as they held him back from his instinctive struggles to lash out in response, or at least to raise his arms enough to defend himself. 

"What purpose did Kastor have in sneaking you into our midst?"

Damen had lost track of how many iterations of the same questions there had been since his arrival days ago. And again he offered no response. He could hardly tell the truth; that would require him revealing his identity, which would earn him a lot worse than a fist to the face. And Damen had been made well aware that his lying abilities weren't up to the task of convincing anyone – especially the man whose sharp eyes were currently surveying him – of an alternative story.

Another blow fell, even harder this time. Dark spots filled Damen's vision for a moment, but he wasn't afforded the break that would come along with unconsciousness. 

"If you don't answer, this won't stop."

"This won't stop regardless." It was the first thing Damen had bothered to say in days. 

The second guard, who was the one asking the questions, sighed. Damen wondered if it was from boredom or regret; whether the man might have actually disliked having to do this duty that had been set for him. Though if so, it wasn't enough to make him actually defy his orders. 

"You're only making this harder on yourself, you know," the guard advised Damen. 

Damen barely managed to unclench his jaw in time to take the next hit.

"Perhaps you enjoy pain. Why else would you hold your tongue for so long?"

Damen stifled a groan at the sound of the new voice. In Damen's (admittedly limited, thankfully) experience, it seemed to always go worse for him during those occasions when Prince Laurent, his supposed new 'Master', decided to speak up rather than just sitting back and watching while his guards did all the work, looking satisfied at Damen's pain. 

Damen could take the physical blows without (much) complaint. The bruises would heal. Or, at least, they would if they weren't being renewed day after day. Laurent's words, on the other hand, were harder to take. Damen somehow could never manage to ignore him. Something about the way Laurent spoke to him made it impossible for Damen to keep his mouth shut.

"Maybe you should be thanking me," Damen said. "I'm apparently giving you the perfect excuse to keep making me suffer. That's what you really want, isn't it?"

"That's surprisingly astute for a brainless savage," remarked the Prince, not even trying to deny it.

"Torturing me on and off for the better part of a week made it fairly obvious."

Laurent made a strange sound. "You think _this_ is torture? You have no idea."

"No," Damen said, "I suppose you're right. Torture is supposed to be done with an actual purpose. To gain information, usually. And you know by now that I won't talk. So you'd do better to just give up and leave me locked away alone in some secure part of the castle where I can't interact with anything or anyone, if you're so scared of what I might have been sent here to do."

Another blow struck Damen. This time it was a backhand from Laurent himself. The catch of his knuckles against Damen's cheekbone actually hurt less physically than most of the hits Damen had taken, but it was somehow more galling to be struck by him, of all people. "I'm hardly afraid. And I don't require your advice, cur. If anything, you should be taking _my_ advice to remember that you're at my mercy, not the other way around. You should be the one who's scared."

Regardless of whether or not he should be, though, Damen didn't fear Laurent. He was nothing more than a petty child pretending to have the strength and influence of a man. It would take a far weaker man than Damen to bend for that.

"And I have no desire to leave you alone, anyway," Laurent added. "Why would I let you off that easily? Where would be the benefit to me?"

At least he was honest about it. 

The questions stopped at that point. The beating didn't. Not for quite some time.

*

When Laurent was absent – presumably off for once actually seeing to the princely responsibilities that he was ignoring in the hours he'd been devoting to seeing to Damen's discomfort – the guards who kept watch over Damen sometimes talked to each other as if Damen wasn't there. He might never see anyone but the Prince and his guards or be allowed out into the palace at large, but through their careless disregard of him Damen still learned a lot about what was happening out there regardless. 

Laurent might be less than a year away from becoming King, but it sounded as though most of the court still treated his uncle, who was for now the Regent of Vere, with far more respect and deference than they did their soon-to-be ruler. Laurent deserved their disdain. Damen could hardly blame the rest of them. Even in a pit of snakes, Laurent surely had to be the most poisonous. The rest of them probably sensed as much. 

If Damen ever found a way from this room, that could be useful to him. 

Damen's chance would come eventually, he told himself. It had to.

*

The next time Laurent came, the guards actually cleared out of the room before Laurent entered, perhaps to demonstrate in no uncertain terms just how unafraid Laurent really was. Laurent wasn't, however, actually left alone with Damen, for another man strolled into the room in Laurent's wake.

Laurent's expression suggested he wasn't happy about being accompanied, and the way he didn't entirely turn his back to the other man indicated that he wasn't comfortable with him in general. It was odd seeing Laurent so on edge. Odd, but welcome. Damen straightened his posture a little. Perhaps this change was what he'd been waiting for: an opportunity.

The older man looked directly at Damen and asked, "What's your name, slave?"

"He doesn't answer questions," Laurent supplied for him. "And I'm informed by Guion that he has no name. It was stripped from him along with his position, apparently. I see no reason to return it to him."

"You might as well call him Damianos, since that's who you're _really_ aiming this violence of yours at, isn't it? Though it seems wasteful to expend so much anger on a dead man." 

Damen jerked slightly in place the moment he heard his name, momentarily fearing himself discovered. Neither man seemed to notice his reaction. Perhaps they thought – with good reason, considering – that it was a spasm of pain. 

"No wonder you've hidden him away from the public eye, if this is the state you've put him in. Is this any way to treat a gift from our new allies? So thoroughly bruising the cream of the crop of slaves they sent could be interpreted as disrespecting the alliance those slaves represent, don't you think? Especially when this one was specifically gifted to you as Prince."

Damen hadn't realised that Laurent actions weren't necessarily sanctioned. He'd just assumed that the Veretians were happy to know that the 'barbarian' was being mistreated. This must surely change things in Damen's favour.

"I don't particularly care if the Akielons feel respected, Uncle," Laurent replied uncaringly. "It's your alliance, not mine. And how would Kastor even know? Do we answer to the Bastard King of Akielos about what happens inside the walls of our own palace now?"

Uncle, Damen noted. Then this was the Regent. Someone who actually did have some power to control Laurent, and to sanction him for his actions. Damen might have guessed who he was by the sure way he carried himself, but he certainly wouldn't have picked up on it from any other visual clues, for the man bore very little physical resemblance to Laurent. Damen would almost have said that their attitudes were miles apart from each other as well, but he noticed that there was something oddly cold in the Regent's smile.

"Now, now. The Council agreed with me that the alliance would benefit Vere, you know."

Bitterly, Laurent said, "Yes, they always do, don't they."

"And speaking of the Council, they would be displeased to see the evidence of your recent behaviour." The Regent gestured demonstratively at Damen.

"Would they really? I'm more than prepared to make my case before them about the necessity of my actions. Kastor has sent us what is clearly a soldier under the guise of a slave. Are you so sure that the Council wouldn't agree that I should treat him with extreme suspicion and do whatever it takes to uncover whatever scheme he's part of before it can affect us? Or do you care more for ensuring Kastor's goodwill than the safety of our own country?"

"I think you'll find there's nothing to uncover," said the Regent calmly, as if he hadn't even bothered to register Laurent's accusation.

Laurent narrowed his eyes at his uncle. "Will I? If you're so sure of that, then I assume you know why Kastor chose to send this supposed 'slave' even though he's obviously unsuited to anything other than killing. And I'm sure you won't mind letting me know the reason as well, in that case."

"Don't tell me you want me to deprive you of your transparent excuse to torture him. Not when you're so clearly enjoying this little game you're playing with him."

"mm. I'm not the only one whose fondness for games is showing. Perhaps having control of the board has grown dull for you. But you should be careful just what pieces you throw into the mix to liven things up for your amusement. They could just as easily end up being used against you."

Damen wasn't overly familiar with chess personally, but he understood the reference. And he doubted that they thought of him as a particularly important chess piece, as these things went. A pawn, when he should have been a King. And Damen honestly wasn't even sure to which side of the chessboard he was supposed to belong. If he was intended to be Laurent's piece, then Laurent had been using him very poorly.

"Careful, nephew. That almost sounded like a threat. Not even you're immune from being held accountable for treason."

"Oh yes. You'd enjoy that, wouldn't you? Having me tried for acting against my own throne is exactly the sort of thing I'd expect of you."

"You're being paranoid. I only want you to recall your place."

"I know exactly where you _think_ my place should be, thank you," Laurent fired back.

The Regent sighed, as if heavily put-upon by Laurent's attitude. Damen could certainly understand that. Anyone would be. "If you refuse to act like a responsible adult, then unfortunately I can only do so much to force you. But you shouldn't bother complaining about what comes of it in the end."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

After the Regent departed – taking with him Damen's hopes for being saved from further 'questioning' by what seemed to be a more reasonable man – it was clear that Laurent was going to divert his building frustration in Damen's direction. 

Well. If Damen was going to be punished regardless of what he did…

"Sounds like you're going to be held accountable for your unnecessary cruelty," Damen taunted.

For once, Damen didn't entirely mind the sting of the blow that came seconds later. It was actually kind of worth it.

"I wouldn't bother looking to my uncle for assistance, if that's what you're thinking," said Laurent. "He couldn't care less what I do to you unless he can use it against me. He's not on your side." More quietly, Laurent added, "Or on anyone's side but his own."

Laurent could say that all he liked, but he hadn't exactly given Damen any other options at this point. Damen had to use whatever – or whoever – he could.

And if it got Laurent in some degree of trouble, all the better. He'd more than earned it over the past several days. Damen couldn't wait for him to get his comeuppance, especially if Damen had something to do with making it happen.

Damen didn't say any of that. But only because he didn't have to. It was clear that Laurent knew exactly what he was thinking anyway. Not that Damen cared if he knew. By the sounds of it, Laurent was apparently doing a perfect job of defeating himself without Damen having to do a thing.

His chance at regaining his freedom and reclaiming most of what he'd lost would come. Having seen the large cracks in Laurent's armour exposed, Damen was even more sure of that now than he'd ever been.

Damen only had to wait.

**Author's Note:**

> So just for some background in case anyone's interested, I honestly have difficulty believing that in canon no one in Arles really objected to the fact that the Akielons sent someone who even an idiot would be able to tell was a trained soldier into the Veretian capital, representing him as a slave even though he bore no resemblance to the other slaves sent. To me, that just screams potential assassination attempt, the possibility of which should have given Laurent more leverage in justifying how he dealt with Damen. This was written as something of an answer to my ponderings on that.


End file.
